


Always

by its_mike_kapufty



Series: Rhink Ficlets [12]
Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Girlfriends/No Wives, Car Sex, Coming In Pants, Coming Untouched, Dry Humping, Early Days, Love Confessions, M/M, Making Out, Mutual Pining, Praise Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 12:31:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18010961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/its_mike_kapufty/pseuds/its_mike_kapufty
Summary: They've only been full-time internetainers for a few months, but they'vealwaysbeen together. And Rhett knows it better than Link.





	Always

It starts when Rhett’s in the process of recording Link for a skit.

Link is lounging on a couch on his side with a hand propped up, talking to the camera, but then Rhett's got this look on his face like amusement, but... softer? It distracts Link enough to break. _"What,_ dude?"

Rhett straightens, shuffling from foot to foot a bit. "Sorry, keep going."

"No, what, man? C’mon. Is my hair messed up or somethin’?"

Rhett shakes his head and runs a hand along his chinstrap beard, staring into the recording screen. "Nah, you just... you look really good, bo. I dunno."

Link prays his blush isn't strong enough to show up on camera.

 

 

* * *

 

 

"Hey, Rhett?"

They're in the car with greasy fast food, parked at a scenic overlook for their next project. Only one day has passed since the incident that won’t stay the hell out of the forefront of Link’s mind, but it feels more like years. Any more time will drive Link insane.

"Yeah?" Rhett unwraps his burger, inspecting it.

"Can I... ask you something?" Link swallows and fidgets with the straw of his drink.

With a preface like that, Link has his full attention. Rhett sets down his food and frowns, eyes trained on his passenger. "What's up?"

"That thing you said yesterday. What... what did you mean by that?" Link's cheeks are on fire—his ears, neck, chest are on fire.

Rhett blinks. "About our posting schedule?"

"No. When we were shooting and—you said that, uhh. That I looked good." Link should be proud that the words even came out, but he's not. The butterflies in his stomach are angry.

"Oh." Rhett adjusts his aviators, staring out at the bright spring sun. "I dunno. You looked good. Sometimes I think I must be lucky to have you as my partner."

Link's eyes snap to Rhett's profile, head unmoving. "What?" The word is barely a whisper.

"I mean, it's good that at least one of us is attractive, right?" chuckles Rhett, flashing Link that smirk. "Bring in the lady viewers."

Link hesitates, busying his mouth with his drink. He isn't sure whether he wants to tell Rhett that he's attractive too, or ask if Rhett really thinks he's attractive. Both sound damning.

Panic takes over as the silence stretches, laden with unsaid things. Link coughs, twitches his head to the side once. "You wouldn't need much tweaking to be eye candy too, man." He can hear Rhett's breath catch as the older one adjusts to look at him.

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah."

"Can you give me pointers?"

"Uhh," Link laughs, turning to consider Rhett as is, in his hoodie two sizes too big and stray hairs falling in his face. "First off, lose the aviators."

Without hesitation, Rhett whisks them off and throws them to the floorboard. "Done."

"Next, wear your hair down. You've had it up your entire life." The words sound and feel weird on Link's tongue. Half of him wants to cringe and the other half wants to laugh as Rhett instantly musses his own hair, ruining the style.

"Done."

Link squints at him, trying to pick a third thing. After some quiet, Rhett looks down at himself and gestures with open palms, asking _now what?_

Link swallows. "You should, uh. You know your... The way you—" he cuts himself off and sighs, shaking his head as he leans down to get Rhett's glasses. "Don't fuckin' change yourself, man. S'weird."

"What happened to the pointers?!" Rhett cries, genuinely offended.

"Rhett, you're plenty good-lookin', okay? All you're doin' is erasing the you that I love."

Link hears what he’d said one heartbeat too late.

Broken into a sudden sweat, he can only stare into space as Rhett hums next to him. After what feels like an eternity, Rhett elbows him. "I love you too, Link."

Link swallows, recognizing the tone from birthdays and milestones shared together. But that hadn't been the way Link had meant it. It isn't platonic and appreciative; it's passionate and dependent, loyalty and need all wrapped into one. He would die for Rhett, even at the tender age of 24.

Does he owe him honesty, there in the silence? Or does he laugh like he always does and swallow it down for regurgitation to his bedside photos later that night? Link bites his lip and looks out at the fields of blooming flowers in the distance, swaying in the breeze.

"That's... not how I meant it."

"Me neither," the response comes easily. It's only then that Link realizes Rhett's been watching him this entire time—food forgotten, elated smile brightening his features.

Link's eyes search Rhett's, scared. "What?"

"I've always meant it that way, bo. Always loved you. Wish I could say it more often." Practice of nerves, Rhett fumbles a hand through his hair, trying to undo the damage to it. "I know you're not gay or whatever"—another uncomfortable conversation Link hadn't yet breached with the blonde—"and neither am I, but I think... I think I've always loved you like that. Ever since we were kids."

Link suddenly feels sick, and Rhett knows the look. "You need me to roll down the windows?" Rushed nodding does it, and Link leans out the car to take deep breaths of the crisp outside air, filling his lungs and collecting himself. From over his shoulder, Rhett chuckles. "Scary, ain't it?"

"Jesus, Rhett."

"I know. I'm used to pushing it down, though, so you don't gotta worry about it."

Link freezes, eyes bolting open at the gravel parking lot. "What d'you mean...?"

"This is good enough, man."

Link retracts his head and swivels to stare at Rhett, jaw slack.

Rhett nods, happy as ever, and continues. "I know you've got plans. I ain't about to get in the way of 'em or nothin'. Decided a long time ago that this'd be good enough. I'm just..." Rhett thumbs the aviators in his lap, lids low as he huffs a chuckle. "Just glad I get to be around you. It's enough."

Link knows he's breathing too heavily, biting the inside of his cheek too hard. When Rhett glances back up to flash a reassuring smirk, he gulps.

"What if that's not enough for _me,_ Rhe—"

Rhett tears through the space between them like it's nothing, crushing their mouths in a starved kiss that Link can't help but moan into; he can _feel_ the pent up years there, feel the nights Rhett had spent alone dreaming of doing this to him. He tastes like spearmint and the simplicity of truth, and Link can't weave his fingers through Rhett's hair fast enough. Large hands are everywhere on Link, grabbing his hips and tracing his neck and even venturing to palm his growing arousal when the kiss deepens. Link whines and Rhett growls—call and response.

When they run out of air, Rhett pulls away, both of them gasping for it. Cheeks flushed and pupils blown wide at the fresh fulfillment of deepest-buried desires.

Link swallows, straightening his glasses. "Was that a one time thing?"

"No," Rhett's shaking his head and exiting the car, rounding the vehicle so he can open Link's door and rip him to his feet. "No, please don't make it one time, I think that broke somethin' in me," he murmurs, pressing Link against the sun-warmed paint to kiss him again.

Link's knees buckle and he's held up entirely by Rhett's weight for a second. "Rhett! What if someone sees?"

"Don't care. Needed to be able to feel you, bo," Rhett manages in between kisses, breath heavy and hands busy feeling up Link's shirt. The brunette is worried he might actually pass out from blood rushing to his dick—he's dizzy and euphoric. "You really did, y'know."

"Did what?"

"You looked so good on camera," laughs Rhett low into his ear, the vibration drawing a sharp breath from Link. "Couldn't stop thinkin' about how precious you are to me."

"Izzat so?" It's dumb, but it's the only thing Link can say as Rhett nuzzles his beard against Link's neck, like he's marking him with his scent.

"Well... that, and how much I wanted to pin you to the cushions and suck you off."

Link can't dam up his next moan.

"Never done that before, but I wanna give that to you, wanna see how you taste, know every inch of you like I should by now." Rhett's already gone, can't stop dripping dirty nothings into Link's neck—a monster transformed by one sentence of permission. Link is helpless to stop him.

"B-Backseat?"

_"Yes."_

Rhett throws open the door and lies down first, patting his stomach for Link to lie atop him. If the guy didn't have a bad back, Link would've complained. Instead he does as suggested, face and neck ablaze. His weight is barely on Rhett before he's being kissed deep and needy, hands on his back like if he hugs hard enough, they'll never have to separate.

The first time Rhett bucks up to grind their cocks together through their jeans, it irons the breath out of Link. He sits up, shivering.

"Yes or no?" Rhett checks in, lips swollen from kissing, eyes wild on the man above him.

"Gosh, Rhett... I think..." He's in risk of sounding easy and stupid, but he's also still scared of taking the next step. Besides, he's not lying when he admits, "I think I could come from just grinding on you." He coughs before clarifying, "even with my pants on."

He's worried the suggestion won't be enough for Rhett—that it'll throw a wrench between them and sour the mood. But Rhett trembles from head to hips with his next breath, hands clutching Link's thighs straddling him. "I'm that guilty a pleasure for you, huh?"

Link whimpers at the sight of his best friend laid out below him and presses down onto Rhett, feeling his impossible hardness fit against the seam of his jeans. The effect is instant. Rhett sucks in a hiss and knits his brow, watching Link's hips roll back and forth.

"Fuck, brother."

"Really?" laughs Link, confidence renewed with his position of power. "Still gonna call me that?"

"S'just a petname, and it's always been yours."

Rhett reaches up to feel Link's pecs, almost like Link has something more there to work with. Link’s about to tease him for it when hands cusp around the heft of his muscles and Rhett pushes out a ragged moan. Face flushing fiercely, Link rides him in earnest, hips snapping and sweat beading quickly in the hot cabin.

Link knows Rhett's going to come first. He can tell when those achingly green eyes have trouble staying on his, when Rhett's breathing gets erratic and throaty, each huff a moan. When he bucks up hard into Link—vice-like grip on Link's thighs to ensure he can't go anywhere—and spills into his jeans, Link feels the heavy damp and the need, sees the pulsing vein at Rhett's neck. More importantly he looks down, grinning in self-satisfaction until two rhythmic splashes of cum sneak out past Rhett's waistband and land on his exposed belly, and that's it—the sight is too much. Link comes untouched, in full-throated yells scratched high with release as Rhett talks him through his heat.  _"Oh, fuck, baby, are you serious? God, that's hot, Link, you're as beautiful as I imagined..."_

Spent, Link collapses against Rhett's chest, thudding out a grunt and a laugh from the larger one. They lay together, catching their breath, sticky from sweat and the cooling wet of their deed. Link's too spent from his efforts to do anything besides pant, so Rhett reaches up and clears his damp bangs from his forehead, rubs his back reassuringly.

"So much better than I ever fantasized," intones Rhett, and Link smiles.

"You're such a dork."

"But you love me."

"I do." The happy glow around them persists long after they've come down from their high. For a while, birdsong is the only noise, and Link thinks Rhett might be falling asleep. As much as he doesn't want to ruin the spell, he taps Rhett's chest imploringly.

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

"Are we like... _together,_ now?" Link asks, feeling childlike at his own phrasing. Especially when Rhett hums happily, too weak to laugh.

"We always were, bo."


End file.
